Connecticut players on the bench react to a basket late in an NCAA college basketball game against Notre Dame, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, in South Bend, Ind. Connecticut won 67-53. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- For the first time in Jim Calhoun's long memory, there was no one to greet him and his UConn men's basketball team when they arrived at the Joyce Center at 8:45 a.m. on Saturday.

Maybe that was just as well. Calhoun -- already unhappy with the 11 a.m. starting time for the Huskies' bout with Notre Dame -- was even more peeved at the news he received the night before. UConn would have to play without backup point guard Ryan Boatright, who will be held out of games for the second time this season as the NCAA again looks into his eligibility issues.

Throw in the fact that Notre Dame had won its last 29 home games (and even the fact that John Cahill, never a Calhoun favorite, was one of the officials), and Saturday had the makings of a particularly cranky day for the Hall of Fame head coach.

Then, UConn went out and delivered perhaps its best team effort of the season, a 67-53 win over the Irish that had Calhoun all smiles afterwards.

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"I'll go home with a great sense of pride about what my team did," he said after watching the 17th-ranked Huskies improve to 14-3 overall and 4-2 in the Big East. "We were energized. We had a pretty emotional talk about, 'it's about us.' We can't control the world, but we can control what we do."

UConn learned the NCAA was looking into Boatright's eligibility (again) shortly after arriving at its hotel around 7 p.m. on Friday. Calhoun pulled the freshman out of the team's dinner to tell him the news.

"He was in my arms when I told him," Calhoun said. "He was in my arms, that's all I can tell you."

Boatright had some 300 friends and family from his hometown of East Aurora, Ill., about two hours up the road in suburban Chicago, at the game to see him play. The group even had special UConn shirts with Boatright's name and No. 11 on the back made for the game.

"It's kind of unfortunate that the NCAA would do that to him, especially a game where it's close to home for him," said Alex Oriakhi. "He had a lot of people come out to see him play."

Without Boatright, and with Tyler Olander limited by injury and Jeremy Lamb held to a season-low six points, the Huskies got yeoman efforts from other sources.

Shabazz Napier (along with Lamb) played all 40 minutes and had 16 points and five assists, while Andre Drummond added 10 points and 13 rebounds. The Huskies held Notre Dame to 32-percent shooting for the game.

But it was the performances of Oriakhi and Roscoe Smith that really carried the day.

Oriakhi, mired in a season-long slump, had an active 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Smith, whose playing time has been severely limited in recent weeks, added 10 points and six rebounds -- including some big offensive boards in the second half -- in what was easily his best effort of the season.

"When you're a coach, that's the biggest thing you want, when your team is thrown a challenge, as we were last night around 6:30, 7 p.m.," said Calhoun. "I thought we responded great."

Smith, a stalwart on last year's national championship team, had gone scoreless in limited minutes in three of UConn's prior four games.

"It hasn't been frustrating," Smith insisted. "It's just something I've been going through. It's part of basketball. I went through it in high school and I went through it in middle school. I just love to be around the staff and the players. I just love to be out there and contribute any way I can."

It's the second time UConn has snapped a long Notre Dame home winning streak. Three years ago, the Huskies halted an Irish 45-game streak that still stands as the program's longest ever.

Notre Dame fell to 11-7, 3-2.

Both teams did their best not to let the early start time ("I don't remember the last time I've had a 6:50 a.m. wake-up call for a basketball game," Calhoun quipped) affect them. Notre Dame had a pretty thorough practice starting around 7 a.m., and UConn was vocal and energetic during its pregame shootaround.

Notre Dame knocked down five 3-pointers and held a 25-24 halftime lead, but the Huskies got some breathing room early in the latter half, thanks largely to Smith. During one stretch, the 6-foot-8 sophomore forward had consecutive offensive rebounds that led to his own putback and a pair of free throws.

A short while later, Smith grabbed another offensive board to keep a sequence alive, and wound up knocking down a 15-footer on that possession to open up a 41-33 UConn lead.

The Irish would get back to within four (42-38), but the Huskies responded with a 9-0 run that started with a Drummond alley-oop layup and was capped by a Napier free throw with 4:32 left.

Notre Dame would never get back to within single digits.

"We definitely needed that game -- another Big East game, on the road," said Smith. "It was kind of tough, but we pulled through in the second half."

Niels Giffey added a workmanlike seven points and five boards off the bench and Olander, limited to just six minutes with a bruised right heel, provided four points, four boards and plenty of positive reinforcement.

"It's the small, little things that make a coach happy," said Calhoun. "The enthusiasm that Tyler had on the bench. He got into the game, made his two foul shots and twice made us break pressure. That's what a team's all about."